The faculty in the College of Business is a diverse group, hailing from many different states and nations, educated at a variety of universities, and with many teaching and research interests. One of our newest and youngest faculty members is Nate Xu, who in a very short time has already established himself as a top-flight researcher as well as highly regarded teacher. His path from China to Illinois to Canyon Texas is one filled with many successes, the result of his hard work and diligence.
Nate hales from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. “It’s only about three hours away from Beijing by train,” he says. But that’s a bullet train, and a distance of 300 miles to the southwest. By Chinese standards, Taiyuan is a medium-sized city, but its five million residents would be second only to New York City stateside. It’s all relative. The city has existed for more than 2500 years, with its economy based on energy and heavy chemicals.
He left Taiyuan behind, though, to begin his higher education training in Beijing, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Auditing at Beijing Jiaotong University.
But it was at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that he earned the necessary credentials for an academic position. He earned a Master of Science in Business Administration with an IT Minor, and a PhD in Business Administration (International Business). From there, he joined the faculty at the Engler College of Business in Fall 2023.
Like many international students, transitioning to American foodways and lifestyles presents challenges, and Nate has been no different. Whereas Nate’s university in Beijing strictly required students to live and dine on-campus, he found a high degree of freedom in Illinois. While a large university brings with it diversity of students, cultures, and food, he still had to adapt to American cuisine, which he and his wife have successfully completed.
But while settling into the Prairie State of Illinois was a shock to his system, moving to West Texas was even more so, for here he was presented with the treeless Plain, much smaller cities separated by many miles, and the ever-present fragrance of cattle. In fact, it was the sheer number of cattle that caught his attention the most. Beef ranks only third on the Chinese menu in terms of consumption, following pork and chicken. But Nate has come to joke about it now, and in fact he states that he likes living in a city of “only” 200,000, and does not mind the aroma that is delivered when the wind blows a certain direction.
That’s another way of saying that Nate is slowly but surely calling this place home, in spite of a world of differences between his native Taiyuan.
In the classroom, Nate has been able to teach in his area of expertise, international business. He has also taught the capstone Management course, Strategic Management and Policy. He has already endeared himself to his students, who find his vast knowledge to command utmost respect, but also love his easy-going classroom demeanor.
Nate’s research is already off to an excellent start. Prior to arriving at WT, Nate and two colleagues had a paper published in the Journal of International Business Strategy (JIBS), one of the most highly-respected journals in his field. The publication focused on cross-country diffusion of stigma in the film industry, specifically looking at the Harvey Weinstein scandal as news of it spread around the world.
More recently, he and three colleagues have had another paper accepted at JIBS, this time expanding upon one of the chapters in Nate’s dissertation, governmental influence on global companies making Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) decisions.
Dr. Xu has hit his stride here at WT. He recently appeared on an episode of BuffSpeak. You can listen here.